


Obvious Choice

by pushupindrag



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Animals, Fluff, Gen, Implied Relationships, Pets, Secret Pets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 10:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7098775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pushupindrag/pseuds/pushupindrag
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chowder finds a box of baby guinea pigs while he's waiting for it to stop raining. So he does the only thing he can and takes them back to the Haus despite the 'no pet policy'. He starts to take care of them, but it's hard hiding them from the rest of the residents of the Haus.</p>
<p>
  <i>It starts raining as Chowder’s walking to class, and he has time to waste so he ducks under a tree to see if he can wait it out. He goes to get his phone out, because the only way to waste time is obviously check on his cats, until he notices that the box at the base of the tree is shuffling and squeaking, quite quietly, but there. So he goes and checks it out.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Opening up the box, he finds a mass of small furry snuffling things who all start squeaking and chirping as soon as he opens the lid.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Obvious Choice

**Author's Note:**

> Wow this got away from me, it was just meant to be a small stupid thing about Chowder getting a pet but it turned into something way stupider wow.
> 
> Come chat with me about Check Please! On my tumblr [here!](http://postpvnk.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Un'beted so if you find any mistakes please let me know :)

It starts raining as Chowder’s walking to class, and he has time to waste so he ducks under a tree to see if he can wait it out. He goes to get his phone out, because the only way to waste time is obviously check on his cats, until he notices that the box at the base of the tree is shuffling and squeaking, quite quietly, but there. So he goes and checks it out.

Opening up the box, he finds a mass of small furry snuffling things who all start squeaking and chirping as soon as he opens the lid.

“Guinea pigs?” There’s nobody else there, so he’s talking to himself. “Why are you all here huh?” He crouches down, bag thumping on the floor, which prompts the balls of fur to scatter amongst themselves and start shaking.

“Oh no I’m so sorry, shh shh.” He puts his hand into the box, trying to pet all of them at once to make them settle down. “Who dumped all you babies? Where’s your mom? How did you even get here?” There’s six little rodents in total, and he counts as he pets them all, settling them a little. “What are we gonna do with you?”

Who would leave baby guinea pigs out in the cold? Especially when it was raining. And they were all so cute, and small, and fluffy, and apparently happy to see him if their noise when he opened the box was anything to go by.

It’s cold, and raining, and they’re babies, so of course he makes the obvious choice.

He takes his hoodie off, putting it over the box to keep the guinea pigs dry, and bolts it back to the Haus.

There’s luckily no-one home, everyone is at class or just out somewhere, so he’s able to get the babies upstairs and into his room quick and lock his doors.

“Alright fur balls, let’s get you comfortable and happy, I’m gonna have to see what you eat, and what you need. But a t-shirt should do right? For warmth?”

He gets a couple of noises in return, so he thinks they agree.

He sets his laptop up, going into his wardrobe to get an old t-shirt to put in the box.

He makes sure the t-shirt is surrounding the guinea pigs, running his fingers over their little heads as they snuffle around. They’re soft, softer than he would have thought, and they’re seemingly getting used to him as they stop scattering when he puts his hand in the box. Which also may be because he stopped being so fast, which spooks them.

“Okay babies, let’s see what google has to stay about what you need.” He pulls the box up onto his bed so he can keep his eye on them. Now they’ve started to warm up they’ve become more active, bumping into each other and climbing over one another.

“So, it seems you need water, which yeah okay I knew that.” Scoffing, Chowder clicks onto another site. “And you like fresh veggies, which I think we have. You’ll need a water bottle, something to chew on, some hay to eat, newspaper for you cage. Oh and you need a cage! I’m gonna get you a cage, you can’t live in a box. It’s way too small.” He carries on scrolling for a few minutes before nodding to himself.

Giving them away was out of the question. Despite the no pet policy in the Haus. He would just have to keep his new babies a secret. There was no way he could get rid of them now, he loved them already.

“Okay, I’m gonna lock all of you in here, and go and get the supplies. Hopefully the stuff will be alright on the bus.”

The stuff is hell to carry on the bus. But he met a really nice shop assistant when he went to the pet store who made sure he didn’t get distracted by all the fancy sparkly things and instead helped him get all the basics for his furry little babies.

He had cringed when he had paid, but it was worth it for his new pets.

He got them a cage, some hay to eat as well as some guinea pig speciality pellets, and a large water bottle. Along with some treats and a couple of wooden blocks to chew on. He can’t find any fresh vegetables when he raids the fridge, but it didn’t matter at the moment.

It’s not the hardest thing to do to set the large cage up, and it’s worth moving things around when the guinea pigs start jumping around in joy at the bigger space, which he researches, and finds out is called a ‘binky’ which is probably one of the cutest things he’s ever found out.

“Chowder you back? Don’t you have a class?” And oh shit, that’s Bitty.

“Yeah, it’s okay. I’ll be down in a minute!” Shuffling everything around a little to obstruct the cage slightly, just in case someone comes in. “I’ll be back in a minute I promise.” He checks that they have enough water and food before practically running downstairs.

“Hey Bitty how are you, you doing okay?” He stops at the bottom of the stairs, and Bitty carries on looking at him, slowly crossing his arms. “Everything fine? Good, alright I’ll just-“ The look Bitty gives him stops him from babbling and trying to retreat back upstairs.

“Chowder, what are you hiding?” Bitty raises his eyebrows, which is slightly undermimed by his massive woolly hat.

“Nothing, nothing. I just, overslept. Yeah. I overslept. I missed my class.”

“You’re not in your pyjamas.”

“I sleep in my clothes?”

“Chowder, I’ve seen your pyjamas. They’re cute. They have sharks on them.”

“Thank you.” Chowder beams before his face falls when Bitty steps towards him.

“So what were you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“Chowder.” And then Bitty hits him with ‘the look’, which Chowder almost crumbles at. Almost. It’s always hard to resist Bitty’s ‘look’.

“I was jerking off.” And that hurts to say to Bitty. It wouldn’t to anyone else, but Bitty’s his hockey mom, it’s weird.

“You missed a class to jerk off?” The crossed arms are now paired with the raised eyebrow, cocked hip and ‘the look’. “Sure Chowder. Sure. I’m gonna go whip up a few mini pies, see if your mind changes about your alibi in that time.” He reaches up to pat Chowder on the shoulder before retreating into the kitchen, giggling to himself.

It only gets worse from there.

“Why do you constantly lock your room Chowder, I miss coming in.” Lardo whines one night, high as a kite and cuddly, both of them sitting in the bath in their joint bathroom.

“You miss Shitty, I’m not Shitty.” He wheedles, he loves her cuddles, but so do his babies, they’ve started to chirp really loudly whenever he comes into the room as a greeting and he loves them so much. It’s a miracle Holster believed him when he had heard, and Chowder had told him he played guinea pig sounds on his laptop sometimes because he found the noise funny.

“No but you’re my bathroom brother. I miss you.” She’s frowning, so Chowder gives in and shifts around so that she can climb properly into his lap to cuddle properly.

“Oh Lards. Have you talked to him lately?”

“Yeah we skyped yesterday. He’s not the problem. You’re hiding something. We all wanna know what you’re hiding.”

“I’m not hiding anything.”

“Yeah you are, but it’s okay.”

He catches Dex and Nursey trying to break into his room.

“Look, we just want to see what the hell keeps you in there all the time.”

“NONE OF THIS IS ANY OF YOUR BUISNESS! I’M TALKING TO THE WHOLE HAUS HERE!” He shouts, glaring. That would have scared the pigs. Which he regrets as soon as he does it, but needs must.

Nursey gives up, huffing and stomping back downstairs while Dex follows, sticking his tongue out and frowning. Chowder slips back into his room to happy chirps.

The guinea pigs grow, and he’s named them all. They’re all short haired, and they all have their own little personalities. He doesn’t know the gender of any of them, but that doesn’t matter just yet. It will when they mature, but they probably won’t do that for another few months if his estimation on their age is right.

The fattest one is called Tubby, they’re just big boned. The smallest black one is called Itty, because Bitty was too obvious, and he didn’t want to name any of the pigs after the team. The ginger one is named Ginge and their best friend a slightly larger fluffy brown one was called Herbert, and the smaller ginger one is called Buddy. Buddy was his favourite because Buddy liked to snuggle, after Buttercup who was absolute favourite because they liked sitting in his front hoodie pocked to sleep, as well as eating straight from his hand and giving him little kisses.

Cleaning them out is hard, sneaking out bags full of dirty sawdust is never something he can hide well. So he does it at midnight, which works. Most of the time. Tango catches him once.

“What are you doing?”

“Are you sleep walking?” Chowder stops in his tracks. “Why are you sleeping here?” Tango doesn’t say anything, just goes to the fridge.

“Is he sleepwalking again?” Whiskey’s rubbing his eyes as he comes in. “Sorry man, our dorm is too fucking loud, we had to sleep here ‘cause we have a test tomorrow.”

“No, you don’t have to explain.” It’s a little surprising to see Whiskey shirtless and yawning. However, the herding Tango is completely normal so Chowder goes back to throwing away the sawdust.

“What’s in the bag?” Tango mutters on his way out.

“I don’t have to explain either.” Chowder grouses back.

He starts training Buddy and Buttercup to do tricks, jumping over poles and running through little trails. He really loves them. They help him study. Or, they run around on his bed while he studies, which is basically the same thing. One of them snores, and he’s gotten used to the sound as he drifts to sleep.

Farmer is the closest to catching him.

“Sweetheart, what the fuck?” He’s standing in front of his door, arms spread to keep her from going in.

“Nothing.”

“Babe.” She steps forward, disarming smile that is way less suspicious looking than it actually is. “What the fuck are you hiding.”

“Nothing sweetheart, I’m not hiding anything.”

“FINE!” Ransom shouts from somewhere and Chowder winces.

“I’m not hiding anything.”

“Sure, just, move to the side for me.”

“Nope.”

“Sweetie, please move.”

“Can’t do that sorry.” He’s sweating, and he feels bad when her smile turns down a little at the corners.

“Seriously Chris. Why can’t I go in your room?”

“I-I haven’t cleaned. You can’t walk to the bed,” He’s not lying, but you can’t walk to the bed because of the maze he made for the guinea pigs that takes up the majority of his floor. “I don’t want you seeing the mess, you’ll never look at me the same.”

“Oh sweetheart.” She leans in, kissing his cheek before turning around. “Come on, we can go to my dorm instead. I’ll kick the girls out.”

Bitty is the one to find out.

But to be fair, it’s Chowders fault. He trips over the maze, shouting, and Bitty rushes to see what’s the matter.

“Oh my goodness, Chowder. Darlin’. This is what you’ve been hiding? Guinea pigs?”

“I’m not allowed pets! You’re gonna take them away from me!” So Chowder’s close to crying. But he really loves his guinea pigs. He doesn’t want to part with them. “I love them so much you can’t take them off me.”

“Oh Chowder.” Bitty kneels down, helping him up. “You can keep two. But the rest are going to have to go.”

“I can keep them?” And now he’s crying for real, but his mood’s shifted a little.

“Two. You can keep two.”

“Only two?” How is he going to part with three of them?

“Yes, because six is a little much. But they aren’t intrusive enough to tell anybody, it’s not like it’s a dog. And you’ve obviously been keeping them clean and healthy, they’re not really enough of a concern to tell anybody.”

“Bitty you’re the best!” Bitty accepts Chowder throwing himself at him, laughing into the hug.

“I know sweetheart. Now which ones are you keeping?”

“Oh you wanna meet them, go sit on my bed!”

Chowder is ecstatic, he gets to keep two of his babies! And he’s going to make sure the other four go to really good homes, even if it hurts him to give them up.

Carefully he carries each pig to the bed, putting them all on Bitty.

“This one is Tubby, they’re just big boned and they will jump for treats.” He scratches them all as he introduces them to Bitty. “This little one is Itty, because they’re tiny and black like a spider.”

“Did you name them after me?” Bitty beams.

Chowder blushes for a second “Possibly. This ginger one is Ginge, they like lettuce the most. And their best friend right there is Herbert, they cuddle at night. The smaller one that looks like a ginger cookie is Buddy, they’re the loudest and my second favourite. And Buttercup is my favourite! They like cuddles the most.”

“So you’re keeping Buttercup and Buddy then? Who are you giving the rest of them to?” Bitty’s taken a shine to Tubby and Itty, both of whom are asleep on his lap as he gently strokes the tops of their heads.

“Well, you can take those two. If you want. They don’t take much looking after. And you have a Haus guinea pig baby sitter right here!” Chowder can’t stop smiling; it looks like two of his babies were going to good homes.

“And Ransom and Holster will probably take the other two, Holster has been talking about pets and Ransom needs a stress relief. Pets are great for that!” Bitty takes his phone out, taking a few pictures, first of the fluffy babies and then Chowder with said babies. “My twitter is going to blow up with this. There, texted the boys. They’ll be down in a second.”

“And nobody’s gonna rat on my babies?” Chowder holds up Buttercup “Nobody’s gonna rat on me?” His voice is high pitched and it makes Bitty laugh.

“Nobody is gonna rat on you Buttercup.”

“Woah Chowder, these little fluffballs are what you’ve been hiding?” Holster smiles, and Ransom is instantly on the bed, picking up Herbert.

“Aww he looks just like the guinea pig I had when I was kid!”

“Their name is Herbert. Their best friend is called Ginge.” He hands Ginge to Holster who instantly starts to cradle them.

“You keeping them?” Ransom holds Herbert up to his face, touching noses.

“They’re yours if you want them. We can all have two each!” Chowders vibrating a little bit with happiness.

Holster shakes his head “No I want Ginge.”

“Well, you can get a cage up in the attic, and they can share! Oh we can all go the pet store!”

This may be one of the best days of Chowders life. He gets to keep all of his babies in the Haus. And he knows everyone is going to look after them.

“I knew you weren’t jerking off!” Bitty chirps him, nearly disrupting the fluffy mass on his lap when he falls back laughing.

“Chowder, bro, you said that to Bitty?” Holster looks more and more delighted as he says it. Chowder is never gonna hear the end of it.

“Well I-“

“To hide guinea pigs?” Lardo must have come back from class a little early. “Alright boys, cough up. I won the bet.” She’s grinning from ear to ear, dropping her bag at the door to climb on the bed with the rest of them. Buddy sniffs her curiously before deciding that they like her and trying to climb up her leg.

Chowder should have known that there was a bet. “Bet?”

“I bet you were hiding a pet.” She’s looking down at Buddy, offering her hand. “So I won.”

“Fuck. I’ll grab you the money later.” Holster huffs, rolling his eyes while Ransom and Bitty start searching their pockets.

“I can’t believe you bet against me!” Chowder’s pouting.

Lardo just laughs, knocking shoulders with Bitty. “All in good fun brah. It was better than letting our worry build up. Now come on, let’s grab the whole crew and go the pet store.”

So yeah, keeping the guinea pigs was possibly one of the best decisions of Chowder’s life.


End file.
